


Of Kittens And Milk

by hannahuwu



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Attempt at Humor, Boys In Love, Boys in Skirts, Cat Cafés, Cat Ears, Cat/Human Hybrids, Crack, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, How Do I Tag, Hybrids, I'm Bad At Tagging, Light Angst, Loss of Virginity, Love at First Sight, M/M, Misunderstandings, That Cat-Cafe AU nobody asked for but here you go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:08:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24037135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannahuwu/pseuds/hannahuwu
Summary: Hongjoong was an over-thinker, sure, but no amount of over-thinking would have prepared him for this.
Relationships: Choi Jongho & Kang Yeosang, Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang, Choi San & Jung Wooyoung, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho & Kim Hongjoong, Jeong Yunho/Kim Hongjoong, Kim Hongjoong & Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Song Mingi
Kudos: 36





	Of Kittens And Milk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jxngsxng](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jxngsxng/gifts).



> I have a playlist of fluffy songs if you wanna listen to it while reading this ig ^^ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNEPCcH4F5JpMHGTmEXccXGv_7W6_B23R

** TIME: 4.30 AM, Friday  ** _ (why are you up this early?) _

It was early. Hell, no matter how many times he’d done this before, it was still really tiring to wake up hours before the security guards even remotely arrived at school. But they were out of sugar, and he really needed just a jar full to last the next week. Then maybe,  _ maybe _ , if a few customers rolled up, he could stock up the shop. 

Hongjoong took a deep breath of the cold morning air and pushed the heavy wooden door with glass openings open as he arrived after the hour-long walk, breath puffing out little clouds, lips turning up in the corners of his mouth when the tinkling bell he had gifted the owner rang. 

“Hongjoong-hyung? Why are you here so early?” Jongho peeked from under the counter; eyebrow raised slightly. Wooyoung gleefully picked him up, ignoring the unattractive yell he let out before twirling him in the air.

“Isn’t it obvious, Jongho? Hyung misses me~” both of them rolled their eyes as a response before Hongjoong smacked his chest lightly. 

“Put him down, Wooyoung, or I might have to call the cops on you for sexual harassment.” Hongjoong turned his head slightly to notice Seonghwa walking down the stairs from the upper floor where he lived. Wooyoung grinned sheepishly before releasing his hold. 

“So, Hongjoong, what brings you here?” he walked across to the counter Jongho was wiping down to bend over and grab a bottle of water, holding it out slightly to the shorter male, offering the first sip. Hongjoong shook his head lightly before reaching into his satchel, pulling out a glass jar with the words ‘SUGAR’ raised slightly in stained glass pieces. Seonghwa looked back pointedly. 

“Y’know, I don’t get why you still keep it open. I don’t want to hurt you, Hongjoong, but you don’t have the funds to maintain your grandfather’s business. If he knew how much it burdened you, he’d never ask you to do it. The losses you make are intense.” 

“That’s kinda mean hyung,” Wooyoung pouted before Seonghwa shot him a (terrifying) glance. 

“No, Wooyoung. Seonghwa has a point,”

“But-“ Wooyoung tilted his head in confusion.

“It’s just... that cafe was the most important thing my grandfather left me. After he left, I have nobody to call family. It’s the only thing I have to remember them by. So I’ll do my best to protect it,” he held back a sniffle.

“I won’t force myself too hard. If failure is all that comes by the end of this year, I’ll accept it. And I’ll sell the place. But until then, I’ll try.” Seonghwa shook his head lightly before gesturing for the shorter boy to come closer. 

“We’re not related, but we try to be family to you, Joong.” Hongjoong let himself be embraced by the man seated on the counter. Seonghwa smelled like lavender and pine. It was calming.

“Here. Take a bag. Wooyoung stupidly bought too many the last time we stocked up.”

“I just want a jar though,” 

“Take it or leave it.” Hongjoong smiled through his strawberry red bangs. 

“Thank you!” He yelled before promptly leaving to head back. Jongho may have squealed a ‘bye’, but Wooyoung had screamed a ‘love you Hyung,’ (which was loud enough for the entire block to hear) that it was unclear. 

** TIME: 7 AM, Friday  ** _ (see, this is when normal human beings wake up) _

Unlocking the back door, the common room welcomed him back. Humming softly, Hongjoong headed behind the counter and filled up the empty sugar jars. Hopefully today he’d get some customers. 

_ Good morning everyone! I’m Hongjoong. This cafe is where I lived with my grandfather when he was still alive, and I was a wee little kid.  _

_ Grandfather was a barista, so it was only natural; I tried to follow in his footsteps. He used to win all these competitions for brewing the best types of coffee.  _

_ I think for the longest time I could remember, I was always there here by his side, watching him strain the ground beans, sniffing at the strong scents that wafted throughout the building. Waking up to coffee was a tradition for us.  _

_ But then he died. _

_ And I was alone. _

Hongjoong snapped out of his trance as a familiar sound echoed. It was his cat. Mars. He smiled apologetically as he remembered he had forgotten to feed him that morning, setting the mug of coffee on the table to reach for the cat food in the upper cupboard. 

Mars trailed after him before stopping at his food bowl. Hongjoong laughed slightly before pouring a generous helping out, the sound of the dried crackers hitting the bottom of the metal bowl ringing. 

“Shit, Mars, I gotta go to school!” He squeaked before running up the stairs to change into uniform, combing through his hair with his hands in front of the mirror before dashing out. The cafe may have been his most prized possession, but sadly, it could only be opened at night. 

Although he was more concerned about maintaining the cafe, Hongjoong had another year to go in high school. It was necessary; he acknowledged that he should obtain some sort of degree just in case the cafe died down one day. 

God forbid it to happen, but he could feel the hardships growing. Seonghwa’s words carried a weight heavier than he’d like to admit. 

“Hongjoong-Hyung!” He turned to see a familiar face. 

“Oh, Mingi. Morning!” 

“Why didn’t you say hi to me earlier? I was waiting for you by the gates,” he grumbled slightly. Hongjoong bowed apologetically. 

“Sorry. I’m just really caught up in my thoughts right now.”

“Ugh. Don’t apologise, Hyung.” Mingi grinned. They’d been friends even before the car crashed that killed both of Hongjoong’s parents. As Hongjoong would put it, Mingi was like a brother to him. 

“Have you thought about it?” Hongjoong turned to look at Mingi before raising a brow in question. The taller male sighed. 

“Actually, you’ve forgotten. So I’ll repeat it. Hyung, my parents, they really care about you, and they want to take care of you. Won’t you come and live with us?” He rubbed the back of his neck with an air of uncertainty.

“...I just don’t want you to be alone.” And Hongjoong really wanted that. To not be alone. He knew Mingi’s family cared. 

“I know. I get that you guys care for me. But I can’t leave the cafe now. I want to carry on grandfather’s dream,” he softly replied.

“Hyung, think about it realistically. You won’t be able to.” Hongjoong stopped in his tracks. Why couldn’t Mingi get it?

“Even though your grandfather had taught you everything you need to know to keep the cafe open, for the time being, you can’t afford to. You’re just a high school student. No matter how much you try, you’ll fail.” 

“You shouldn’t be carrying so much. I really just want to see you happy and to live a normal life.” Mingi exhaled, ignoring the way Hongjoong stiffened. It was time to go. He wanted to go.

“I can-“ Hongjoong cut him off.

“Sorry, Mingi, I have to go now. Bye.”

“-Hyung,” Mingi’s words trailed off as the older boy ran off. He sighed.

“I can take care of you, Hyung.” He mumbled. That’s what he wanted to say. Now he just felt like the biggest dickhead in the world.

** TIME: 1.30 PM, Friday  ** _ (end of the school week, which also means Hongjoong should be getting some rest, except he doesn’t because as Mingi would put it, he is ‘very stubborn’) _

As the last bell of school rang, Hongjoong hastily gathered all his items and jogged back. 

“Mars! I’m back!” He yelled as he unlocked the front door. The sign on the door flipped to show the cafe now ‘OPEN’, Hongjoong tied an apron around his waist. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes faded to hours. Hongjoong pulled out the homework for the day and sat behind the counter, working through equations and diagrams he didn’t enjoy looking at. 

The bell rang.

“Welcome-“ he lifted his head before he caught the scent of citrus wafting in the air.  _ Mingi.  _

“My parents made me bring food over. I’m guessing you haven’t had any dinner?” Hongjoong beamed in happiness.

“Oh, thank the lord! I was practically starving. Tell your mom I said thanks,” (Hongjoong at this point had a grin that could soften anyone’s heart, so it was considerably hard for Mingi to restrain himself from cooing)

“About this morning...” Hongjoong looked over his shoulder from where he was grabbing some cutlery and two plates.

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to look down on your dreams or whatever. I just- you know what? Never mind. What’s important is that I care about you. So fucking much. So please don’t misunderstand me, hyung.” A heavy silence filled the air.

“Hyung, can you like, say something? It’s a bit awkward now.” Hongjoong giggled (which made Mingi feel like he was about to burst but honestly he would never admit that to Hongjoong. He was just hella cute and Mingi liked cute things). 

“I’m not upset, Mingi. Not one bit. I know that you’re just worried for my sake. I realise this cafe is taking a minor toll on me, but I can’t seem to let go of this place and all the memories that come with it.” 

“See, what I could reeeally use right now is for my best friend to help me with this question I’ve been stuck on for the past hour,” Hongjoong pouts as he elatedly pushes a bundle of papers and a calculator into Mingi’s lap. The orange-haired boy chuckled before sifting through the pages. Nah, nothing had changed in all those years of being friends. 

“Okay, hyung. I’ll help you,”

“Thanks, Mingi! I owe you one,” his lips stretched into a toothy grin.

“On the condition that you sit in my lap.”

Hongjoong paused. Then stared at the said boy with his mouth agape. The next thing Mingi knew, Hongjoong’s tiny hands were smacking him all over, and he doubled over in laughter.

“Where did you learn to speak to your hyung like that, huh? Do you want to get beaten up, Song Mingi? You wanna try your hyung?” 

“Okay, okay, stop, I was jesting, hyung, just kidding. Now for that question-“

** TIME: 11 PM, Friday  ** _ (aka Shop closing hours, because although Hongjoong wanted to stay open 24/7, he knew that nobody would roll around at those hours to a coffee shop. The nightclub in town, maybe. But not his cafe) _

The next few hours passed peacefully, and nobody came (except for one ahjumma that used to know Hongjoong’s dad, she came every day to get a cup of latte). Soon he was closing the store, and Mingi had hugged him before leaving.  _ It was fine. Tomorrow was still full of possibilities. _ He just had to try harder,  _ maybe start a social media account? Would that work?  _

As he picked up the chalk signboard, he let out a little squeal.  _ There were…cats..? _ He dumbly tilted his head before crouching down.  _ They were cute, that’s for sure.  _

“How did you guys get here..?” He stretched out a hand to scratch one of them under the chin. Two of them came forward and rubbed themselves against his crouched legs, but the black one shivered and was visibly trying to move further from him. 

“Where’s your mom?” he pondered. He’d never actually found any strays around the area besides Mars, whom he had found a few years back. He shrugged. It wouldn’t hurt to keep more cats (after all, cats>humans). Gently, he picked up the two and tried to call for the black one to follow. It hissed in response. 

“Don’t be afraid,” he spoke softly. 

“It’s cold out tonight. I’m guessing you’re hungry, too. This house doesn’t have a whole lot of food, but I’m sure I’ve got some milk in the fridge. I’ll warm it up. You can leave tomorrow if you don’t want to stay,” seemed to do the trick. The black one slowly trailed behind as he propped the door open. As Hongjoong set the two down on the floor in front of the counter, Mars cautiously came around and let out a low growl. 

“Mars, be nice. I’m going to heat up what’s left of the milk,” he glanced over before pulling out the nearly empty carton and a small pot. Mars walked over and nudged his foot. Hongjoong smiled before picking him up and resting him on his shoulder, one arm supporting his weight as the other poured the warmed milk in a saucer. The three cats looked more than content to lap it up. Stroking Mars, he walked back to the stove to clean up. As he picked the carton off the furnace, his eyes landed on a set of numbers.  _ The expiry date _ . 

_ “Oh shit!”  _ he yelled before running over to retrieve the saucer. He was too late. It was empty (super clean- it was spotless. Those cats must’ve been starving). 

“Mars, what do I do? The milk was a couple of days off! What if they get sick? What if..?” Mars stretched out a paw and poked his cheek. It must’ve been his way of saying everything would be fine.  _ If they do get sick, I’ll just bring them to a vet. I’m sure I have some savings for that _ . For now, he would let them sleep in the living room. He dug up a basket and filled it with a few blankets, plopping the cats into it as they snuggled against each other. He yawned and stretched his arms to head upstairs before he realised the black cat had trailed him out of the basket. It was a bit odd, considering it was super hostile earlier. But Hongjoong was happy to see it opening up. He bent down to pick it up, and it didn’t retaliate. 

“You can’t follow me up, sorry. Mars will surely get super mad if I let you sleep with me,” he mumbled as he set it down on top of the basket, lightly pressing a kiss to the tip of its nose. 

“Sweet dreams,” he said finally before turning the lights off and heading up the stairs, where Mars was waiting grumpily on the corner of his reasonably large bed (it was a king, his grandpa had insisted on it all those years ago). 

** TIME: 8 AM, Saturday  ** _ (thank God) _

Hongjoong had woken up to the sound of Mars screaming at the birds (poor birds) outside the window (literal screaming, no kidding). 

“Mars, what did I say about bothering the birds? They don’t do anything to disturb you anyway,” he murmured as he rubbed his eyes with the paws of his sweater sleepily. The furry blanket wrapped around him felt so cosy. He was almost tempted to go back to sleep. But the cafe needed to be open at 10, hence the need to get out of bed at some point. He gestured for Mars to follow him as he walked down the stairs to check on the cats, wondering if they were up by now. 

“Good morning, kitties! How did you sleep-AAAA?!” 

See, Hongjoong screamed. And Mars jumped off and ran back up because he wasn’t willing to deal with shit like this early in the morning. Unfortunately for Hongjoong, he had to come to terms with the fact that there were now three (very attractive, but that’s not the point) naked men sprawled on top of each other across the carpet, each with a tail poking out from their lower backs and a pair of furry ears on the top of their head. So he does the first thing that makes sense. 

_ He makes a mad dash out of the house  _ (but not before locking the front door first and bolting it because the cat-humans were probably smart enough to unlock the door from the inside),  _ heading straight for the only place he knows where to get help from.  _

** TIME: 8.30 AM, Saturday  ** _ (huh. Guess he managed to cut the time taken to get there in half) _

“JONGHO! WOOYOUNG! HELP ME!” He yelled as he flung the glass door open carelessly. 

Both males jumped slightly in shock before rushing over in his direction, a panicked look on their faces.

“Hyung? What happened? Did the bank come to claim your shop?” Hongjoong shook his head weakly, panting in exhaustion.

“Did some evil dudes break-in?” Wooyoung piped up, fanning Hongjoong with his hand that wasn’t occupied with a broom.

“Just, can both of you, follow me back? And Jongho? I’m going to need to borrow a pair of your pants, so please bring those,” 

** TIME: 10 AM, Saturday  ** _ (the cafe will have to wait, the rest of the world doesn’t need to know about the three human-cats Hongjoong has inside his house yet) _

Jongho cleared his throat. 

“So,”

“You wanna tell us about the elephant in the room, hyung? Or is there another reason why you had three naked men under your roof? I didn’t think you were capable of taking that much dick,” Wooyoung wiggles his eyebrows. Hongjoong gasped.

“Wooyoung! I’m a  _ virgin _ !” He chucks a pillow at the younger males head (and misses, sadly).

“Hyung, what else are we supposed to think? When we got here earlier, they didn’t even have clothes on! And they were just- letting their stuff hang around the place- so, it really only adds up to one thing,” Jongho speaks after a moment of silence.

“Listen, you’ve got to believe me! They were cats! Like, cute little stray cats! And- and- I fed them some spoilt milk, which was purely accidental, last night, and then I woke up this morning and they were humans??” He rambled on. 

“Hyung, listen to yourself right now. It makes no sense.” Jongho replied, Wooyoung nodding his head in agreement. Suddenly, Mars hops onto the coffee table between the two sides (two sides meaning the fully human people, and the half-cat-half-human people), and  _ meows  _ at the cat people. They respond, and it’s a bizarre scene to watch, and Hongjoong and Wooyung are both low-key freaking out in silence, while Jongho looks on nonchalantly. Just a regular Saturday, watching your pet cat talk to three men in cat language. Mars walks to the edge of the coffee table and turns the TV on by pressing his small paws on the remote. He switches the channels a few times before settling on a drama, where a pair of people are having an argument. One of them grabs the other’s arm, letting out an exasperated, “Trust me, he isn’t lying.” 

Mars turns the TV off before turning back to the cat-people, letting out a few more  _ meows  _ drift between the four. Then, one of the cats, the one with long (long enough for a man bun) blonde hair pipes up, gaze slightly lowered.

“T-trust me. He isn’t lying.”

_ Holy shit. _

**Author's Note:**

> Beta read by @jxngsxng (thanks Ro hhh it was supposed to be for you though aaaa)


End file.
